Beginner's Guide to Power Zones - 3 Coggan's Classic Zones

There are a number of different ways to define zones. The “Coggan Classic” system will be used for this article and is shown below. (It is named after Dr Andrew Coggan who, along with Hunter Allen, wrote the seminal book “Training + Racing with a Power Meter”. First published in 2006 and now in its third edition this introduced many of the key concepts about power based training that are now in widespread use. It remains essential reading for anyone who wants more in depth information about the subject.) 
 

Zone	Name	Typical Duration	Event example	Physiological Features	Engine
1	Adap	NA	Easy social group ride Ultra distance	Fat is primary fuel Light breathing through nose Used for recovery between intervals or on off days Does not improve fitness	Diesel
2	Endurance	3-12 hours	Pro road race, Gran Fondo, 100mile and 12 hour time trial	Zone with the widest variety: Fat is primary fuel at low end with sugar contribution increasing with power Breathing through nose at low end, feeling need to exhale through mouth as power increases Lactate starts to rise	Diesel with some petrol assistance
3	Tempo	2-4 hours	Very long mountain climb 50 mile time trial	Sugar primary fuel source requiring high level of intake to maintain effort for full duration. Some fat contribution remains Breathing harder than zone 2 but controlled Lactate continues to rise	Petrol with some diesel assistance
4	Lactate Threshold	40-70 minutes	Mountain climb, “The Hour” 25 mile Time Trial	Entirely sugar fuelled with more consumed than possible to replace through intake Breathing harder than zone 3 at maximum without strain Lactate levels rise sharply	Just on the limit of petrol before turbo kicks in
5	VO2Max	3-8 minutes	Hill climb, 4K track individual pursuit	Sugar fuelled Breathing at absolute maximum capacity	Petrol with some turbo assistance
6	Anaerobic Power	30-90 seconds	Short steep hill climb Track kilo Road Sprint	Sugar fuelled Oxygen not required Produces acid as harmful waste	Max Turbo boost
7	Neuro muscular Power	<20 seconds	Track Sprint	Muscle phosphate fuelled No need to breathe	Dragster

The zones are numbered so that the higher the number the harder the effort and shorter the duration. While other systems will differ in terms of the number and naming of their zones they will mostly follow this convention.

Each zone has an event example which describes the predominant character of the zone. (Though often things may be more complex. So a long road race will overall be in zone 2 but may well include other zones as well, say zone 5 if there are short hills and almost certainly some zone 6 and 7 at the finish.)

The last two columns provide some indication of the key physiological differences between the zones along with their “engine” equivalents. They are included because Zones 4-7 take their names from the distinguishing features of these. The actual names are not really that important when starting out*. The key takeaway is that efforts taking 3-8 minutes feel quite different from those taking a minute or less and all of these are quite different from those taking around an hour which in turn is quite different from an effort taking several hours.

The table illustrates the first benefit of zones. They can help provide focus. Indeed if you do nothing more than ask yourself before every training session:

• “Do I want to improve my engine and/or something else this ride?”
  
• “If engine which one?”
  
• “Do I want to improve its range or its power?”
  
• “If something else what exactly?”
  

i.e. “What zone do I want to improve?”you will already have the fundamentals of a good training approach in place.

Returning to the road racer from the previous section, it may be that they can stay with a group on the flat and longer ascents. But when the hills get steeper and only take a minute or so to climb they struggle. So it looks as if they need to improve their zone 6 “turbo”, provided they can do this without having an impact on their other zones.

So a coach may devise a training plan that will build zone 6 while maintaining their other zones at a steady level.

That is not the only option however as we shall see later.

The table is not specific to cycling. It applies to most every from of physical activity and/or sport. Running to catch a bus is a zone 6 activity, lifting a heavy suitcase zone 7, walking the dog zone 1 (or 2/3 depending on the breed and anywhere from 4-7 if she gets a scent and hurtles of in pursuit!).

As cyclists we just happen to be particularly lucky that, with the help of a power meter, we can take zones one step further than most other sports and put precise numbers as will be shown shortly.

One final thing to note about zones is that they are not silos. The various physiological systems underlying them may well impact several zones. This impact may be positive or negative. For example even crit riders who never race for longer than an hour or so will most likely benefit from spending some time training in zone 2 as this can help muscles deal with the by products of high intensity exercise. Conversely a rider whose speciality is long time trials where zone 4 is important would not be advised to spend much time in zones 6 and 7 as the changes this produces will only have a negative effect on their performance.

* If you are interested in a deeper understanding of the physiology that underlies zones (and much more) I would recommend Andy Galpin on Youtube. He covers everything you need to know ranging from 5 minute introductions to hour long deep dives.